Brothers
by lynxeye
Summary: Nothing is lost forever. Neither peace nor war. Everythig seems peaceful in SkyClan, but danger lies within. Soon every cat has to decide where its loyalty lies. Centers around the two brothers Bouncepaw and Rockpaw, and how they both choose their own way
1. Chapter 1

**Hey****, guys!**

**My first story, I'm so exited! *jumps around***

**Sorry, I'll stop that. It's just… Well, I don't know if my English is good enough to be read by someone else than my pitiable teacher.**

**So, if anyone of you finds a mistake (what will happen for sure), please tell me, so I can correct it. Please!**

**Well, I think I've talked long enough. **

**Enjoy the story, and don't forget: Review, Please!**

**Just to remember: I do not own warriors, not a single pawstep.**

**Pity, but true.**

**Another important ****note: I wrote the first chapters and the plot half a year ago, so if there are any parallels, they aren't intentionally. I haven't read SkyClan's destiny yet and I won't before I finish this story.**

**...  
**

**Allegiances**

**SkyClan**

Leader ** Leafstar- **brow-and-cream tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Deputy **Sharpclaw**- dark ginger tom

Apprentice,

Medicine cat **Echosong**- silver tabby she-cat with green eyes

Warriors  **Patchfoot**- black-and-white tom

Apprentice, **Bouncepaw **

**Clovertail**- light brown she-cat with white underbelly and legs

Apprentice,

**Petalnose**- pale gray she-cat

**Cherrytail**- tortoiseshell she-cat

Apprentice,

**Sparrowpelt**- dark brown tabby tom

Apprentice,

Apprentices **Bouncepaw**- dark ginger tom with green eyes

**Rockpaw- **black tom with blue eyes

**Tinypaw**- small white she-cat with green eyes

**Sagepaw**- pale gray tom with amber eyes

**Mintpaw**- gray tabby she-cat with green eyes

Queens **Leafstar- **brow-and-cream tabby she-cat with amber eyes, mother of

Sharpclaw's kit: Spark-kit (Brown tom with small ginger flecks

Elders none

**Cats outside the Clan**

**Hutch**- dark brown tabby tom, formerly Shortwhisker

**Oscar**-black kittypet that lives near the old barn

**Nameless**- black, with a shimmer of blue, she-cat that lives in twolegplace

...

**Prologue**

The cave was filled with the whispers of countless cats, and their starry shapes glittered in the darkness.

A silver tabby she-cat stood at the edge of a pool of water, waiting for something.

Eventually a gray-and-white tom padded out of the darkness, his fur shining with stars in it.

The silver she-cat dipped her head in welcome and the tom meowed:

"Greetings, Echosong! I'm glad to see how well my Clan is recovering.

But still, there is something you need to know.

He felt silent, and closed his bright eyes.

After a few heartbeats, Echosong lifted her voice carefully.

"Cloudstar? _What_ do I need to know? Will the rats come back?"

Instead of answering her questions, the gray tom suddenly spoke with a deep, grave voice:

"_Nothing is lost forever. Neither peace nor war. Darkness will come, and it will lie in the paws of two cats to destroy or save their Clan._"

With that, he slowly faded, leaving the silver cat alone in the dark cave.

**I know, it isn't a very good prophecy, but I'm still practicing.**

**The next chapter will be up soon, I promise!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! **

**I've a little problem, the blank lines I put into the word document won't appear in the story. That's why the whole text is in one big block, which looks kind of stupid and ist more difficult to read. Does anybody of you know what to do about it?  
**

**Chapter1**

"Come on, Bouncepaw or that slug will catch up with you!",

Rockpaw shouted and pointed with his tail at the tiny creature right behind his brother.

"Keep your fur on", Bouncepaw murmured and broke into a run to catch up with the rest of the patrol.

They were heading to the Twolegplace to check the borders they had been forced to set there after a big kittypet named Oscar had started to disturb their hunts and even to attack the Clan cats.

In spite of his brothers bad temper Bouncepaw enjoyed the warm sun on his face.

Newleaf had come after all, washing away the terrible grip of leafbare.

He still shivered at the thought of the cold season.

A moon ago, a giant dog had attack the nursery, and killed Larchkit before Sharpclaw, Patchfoot and Cherrytail had driven him out.

Larchkit's mother, Leafstar, had lost a life while protecting her kits, and was still very weak.

Her other kit, Spark-kit, had caught a cough, and the medicine cat, Echosong, had trouble to find the right healing herbs.

With newleaf, Bouncepaw hoped that life would be easier again.

A sudden hiss broke his thoughts.

"I can smell kittypet!"

It was Patchfoot, his mentor.

The black and white warrior sounded rather angry than frightened.

Bouncepaw sniffed the air, too.

Almost at once he could make out the kittypet's scent, but he was sure it was not Oscar.

"What's wrong?", asked Cherrytail, the mentor of Rockpaw, and came back to them.

"Just a kittypet", Patchfoot reassured her, and Bouncepaw quickly added:

"It's not Oscar. Probably it's just lost."

"Shell I drive it out?", Rockpaw asked eagerly, unsheathing his claws.

"We don't have to be hostile to every cat that comes from twolegplace just because Oscar is such a piece of fox our Clan is made up from former kittypets, remember?", Cherrytail told him impatiently.

"Maybe Bouncepaw can deal with it. I want to see your hunting technique for squirrels once more. Is that okay with you, Patchfoot?",

Cherrytail suggested, flicking her tail towards Bouncepaw.

"That's fine.", the older warrior answered and added to his apprentice: "I'll meet you at the old barn."

All three cats disappeared, leaving Bouncepaw alone.

_Yeah, right!_, he meowed frustrated to himself,_ let stupid Bouncepaw take over the kit-work._

Angrily lashing his tail, he followed the scent trail, silently cursing the adventurous kittypet.

He had hoped to show his mentor his hunting skills, to make him see how much he had learned, but it seemed like Rockpaw would get all the praise. Again.

Eventually the scent became stronger, and he suddenly spotted a scrap of black fur between the brambles.

His fur began to bristle at the thought of Oscar, but he forced it to lie flat again, telling himself how stupid he was.

He would have recognized the black tom's scent at once, and this cat looked much smaller.

Silently he came nearer, then sprang out of his hiding place right in front of the strange cat.

She gave a small squeak of surprise, but did not run away.

Instead, she curiously sniffed at him and meowed:

"You don't smell like the other cats in twolegplace. Are you a rouge?"

Bouncepaw was taken aback by her lack of fear.

He had expected her to flee right back to her twolegs.

"No…", he answered surpised. "I'm a Clan cat. My name is Bouncepaw. Did you hear about SkyClan?"

"Yes, but I don't know what it is. It sounds like a big gang of rouges. Is that right?", the she-cat asked, settling down to hear his story.

Bouncepaw wasn't sure if he should tell the strange cat about his Clan, and he knew that Patchfoot expected him to come right back to him.

But what harm could it do to tell a kittypet some stories?

"Well, we are no rouges.", he began proudly,

"Rouges only care for themselves, but in a Clan the warriors protect the weaker cats like kits and elders. I'm an apprentice, I'm training to become a warrior. We have a leader, and a deputy, too. And one of the most important cats is our medicine cat, Echosong. She treats the wounded cats and reads signs from StarClan."

Bouncepaw wasn't surprised by the she-cat's interruption.

"What's StarClan?", she asked curiously, listening to the ginger apprentice witch huge eyes.

Bouncepaw hesitated, finding it hard to explain his warrior ancestors to the kittypet.

"StarClan is what you can see in the sky at night.", he meowed slowly, "The lights that you can see there are our ancestors, the cats who died long ago. When a warrior dies, his spirit goes up there and looks down at the Clan. StarClan guide us, and they warn us from danger and show us what to do in times of need. One day I will walk with them, too."

When he ended, the black she-cat kept quiet for a long time.

Finally she asked: "Do kittypets have ancestors that look down on them, too?"

Bouncepaw twitched his ears uncomfortably. He did not know how to answer that question.

Privately, he doubted that kittypets joined StarClan after their death, but he did not want to upset the she-cat.

"I'm not sure." he mewed after a while, "Maybe they have their own ancestors."

The she-cat did still look troubled, and he discovered a faint of grieve in her grey eyes.

"I could ask Echosong if she knows more about that.", he suggested, trying to comfort her, "After all, she's the one who talks to StarClan."

The she-cat looked up, and a faint shimmer of hope began to glow in her eyes.

"Would you really do that?"

"Yes, of course!", Bouncepaw answered, ignoring the quiet voice inside his head that warned him not to break the warrior code.

"Meet me here tomorrow at sunhigh. But keep watch for a big black tom, Oscar. He's a real pain in the neck. By the way, what's _your_ name?"

It took the she-cat a moment to reply.

"I don't like the name my twolegs gave to me

I guess you can just call me Nameless.", she said finally and headed of with a last thankful look over her shoulder.

Bouncepaw said there a few moments longer to understand what just had happened.

Had he really agreed to meet a strange cat on Clan territory?

Angry and confused about himself, he darted of to meet his mentor at the old barn.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to Spiritflare for the Review, you really made my day! I wasn't sure to continue this story, but I will, don't worry.**

**You're right, it is not very nice to call a cat Nameless, but first Bouncepaw doesn't think about such things (toms!), and second, she will have another name in a few chapters (around chap six or seven, I suppose).**

**The name ist already fixed, but If one of you has an idea, tell me, if it's better than mine, I might take it.**

**Okay, let's go on with the story.  
**

**Chapter2**

When they returned from their patrol, the sun had already started to go down; her fiery light was casting long shadows on the far side of the gorge.

Rockpaw darted away to the fresh kill pile, where his sister, Tinypaw, and Mintpaw shared tongues, and started boasting with the squirrel he had caught.

Bouncepaw followed more slowly, nodding his greetings to the two she-cats, and picked up a blackbird.

With the prey in his jaws, he padded over to Echosong's den, finding it empty.

Frustrated, he came out again, calling over to Sagepaw, who was changing the bedding in the nursery.

"Do you know where Echosong is?"

The pale gray tom dropped a mouthful of old moss and answered:

"She's checking on Spark-kit. "He has started coughing again."

Without another word he picked up his moss and padded away.

Bouncepaw hesitated.

He had hoped to meet Echosong alone, but if Spark-kits illness increased, the medicine cat might stay in the nursery all night.

With a last sigh he picked up the blackbird again and bounded over to the cave.

"Hello Bouncepaw, what do you want?", Echosong asked friendly, looking up from the sleeping Spark-kit.

Bouncepaw nodded respectfully over to Spark-kit's mother, Leafstar.

"I brought you some fresh-kill to your den, but you weren't there.

I hope Spark-kit isn't seriously ill?"

"No, he's a strong kit. Thank StarClan this terrible leafbare is over.

But you didn't come to talk about Spark-kit, did you?"

Bouncepaw hesitated.

He wasn't sure how he could explain his question without giving away how he came to it.

"I…er…I just wondered if kittypets join StarClan, too. Or do they have their own ancestors?"

A glimpse of curiosity appeared in the medicine cat's eyes, but she did not ask how he came to that question.

Leafstar seemed surprised, too, but like Echosong she did not made a comment.

"That's an interesting question", the silver she-cat meowed,

"And I'm not sure if I can answer it properly.

What I know is that kittypets don't join StarClan, because they don't believe in it.

You know that I lived with kittypets once, too.

My mother never told me about anything like kittypet-ancestors, but some cats believed in something like big cats in the sky who were watching them.

Maybe they were right, and there are some ancient cats that form the ancestors of the kittypets."

Echosong fell silent, but before Bouncepaw could say good-bye,

Leafstar spoke.

"My mother was a rouge, and when she was alive, she never told me something about warrior ancestors. I'm sure she didn't believed in something like this, but she still joined StarClan after her death."

Echosong nodded slowly.

"That's right. Maybe, deep in her heart, she knew of StarClan.

After all, you're both descendants from the ancient SkyClan.

But I don't claim the knowledge of StarClan, and the ways of our ancestors are far too complex to be understood by a living cat.

Sometimes the only way of getting the answer to such questions is dying."

XXXXX

Bouncepaw woke up when a paw prodded into his side,

and the excited meow of his brother interrupted the sounds of his dream:

"Come on, Bouncepaw!

What about some training before breakfast?"

Bouncepaw grumbled tiredly and turned away, not wanting to leave his warm nest.

"Your warrior name will be Bounce_sleeper_ if you go on like this!"

Rockpaw mewed and padded out on of the den leaving a relieved Bouncepaw.

But his peace didn't last long.

"Bouncepaw, are you ready for the dawn patrol?"

Patchfoot's black and white head appeared in the entrance of the den.

"Comin'" the ginger apprentice sighted and followed his mentor.

Clovertail and her apprentice, Mintpaw, were there too, waiting impatiently for him.

"I think we could patrol along the river, so we can stop and hunt in the forest"

Patchpelt suggested, "The sunhigh patrol can check twolegplace and the barn, then."

As he padded after the rest of the patrol, Bouncepaw remembered the promise he had made to the black kittypet, and wondered if he could leave undetected.

"What's up, Bouncepaw?" Mintpaw asked curious, "You look as if you'd have to fight a badger.

Surely you aren't scared of Oscar, are you?"

She nudged his shoulder playfully and darted away with a happy yowl.

After a heartbeat, he followed her, pushing his problems away and enjoying the warm day.

"Got you!", he shouted, jumping on top of her and rolling her over.

Mintpaw pushed him of, and they wrestled together until she broke free and ran away towards their mentors.

"Help! A grumpy badger is attacking!", she yowled, and crouched down behind Clovertail.

"Mintpaw! This is not a game, this is a patrol! If you can't behave properly, I doubt that Leafstar will ever make you a warrior!", the light brown warrior reminded her apprentice, stepping aside.

Bouncepaw, not able to stop, crashed into his mother and threw her to the ground , landing on top of her.

"Bouncepaw!", Patchfoot and Clovertail shouted at the same time, and the black-and-white warrior pushed him angrily aside, "What do you think you're doing? I thought you would have learned how to show respect to a warrior by now!"

Bouncepaw bowed his head and murmured: "Sorry."

Clovertail got up again and shook dusk from her fur. "Just remember you aren't in the nursery any longer!", she meowed, and licked his head encouraging.

As they padded on, Mintpaw hissed: "Sorry. But you should have seen Clovertail's face when you crashed into her!" She let out a purr of amusement, and Bouncepaw fell in.

It was a great day, and he wouldn't let anything spoil it.

**Well, there didn't really happen anything this chapter, but that will change soon.**

**Reviews? (I don't have anything against flames, as long as they're reasonable)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Spiritflare told me that there was a change of scenes without a real border, I fixed that. Again, I have to apologize for the missing blank lines, but I just don't know what to do about it.**

**Thank you for telling me, Siritflare! :D**

**Chapter3**

When they came back to the camp,

The sun had already risen and the other cats began to emerge from their dens.

Sharpclaw shared tongues with his mate, Leafstar, in front of the nursery, while Tinypaw played with Spark-kit.

Echosong had been right; he looked completely health, racing after Tinypaw's tail with exited squeaks.

Rockpaw and Cherrytail were nowhere to see, Bouncepaw supposed they were out hunting.

Hungrily, he padded over to the fresh kill pile.

There were still a couple of mice from the previous day,

and with Cherrytail and his brother hunting he felt free to take one.

Maybe he could hunt later, as an excuse for leaving the camp and telling the black kittypet what Echosong had said.

Patchfoot hadn't mentioned any training or hunting, so he supposed he was free to go out on his own today.

XXXX

When he reached the small woods, the she-cat was already waiting for him, lashing her tail expectantly.

As soon as he emerged from the bracken, she sprang up, greeting him with a warm purr.

"Hi! Did you find out anything?", she asked hopefully.

"Hello, Nameless.", Bouncepaw meowed,

"I asked Echosong, but she didn't know anything about kittypets joining StarClan.

She said that some of them may have their own warrior ancestors, but her mother, who was a kittypet, too, never told her anything about them.

She said they may be just a distant memory of StarClan.

After all, many of the kittypets in twolegplace are descendants of the ancient SkyClan."

Nameless seemed disappointed, but then her eyes lighted up.

"Am I a descendant of them, too?"

Bouncepaw hesitated.

The kittypet looked rather thin; there was no hint at the powerful haunches that were so significant for his Clan.

But he had seen her pads, which were hard and black.

"I'm not sure", he replied,

"They lived here a long time ago, and so their descendants can be spread very far."

Nameless nodded, and seemed to think about something.

After a while, she asked: "Can you teach me how to hunt?"

Bouncepaw froze.

"What?", he gasped, not trusting his ears,

"But you're a kittypet! Your twolegs feed you. And I have duties to my Clan, too!"

Nameless dropped her tail, disappointment filling her grey eyes.

"Oh. I see. Sorry, I won't waste your time any longer."

She turned away, slowly padding back to twolegplace.

Bouncwpaw hesitated.

He hadn't wanted to sound that harsh.

"Wait!", he called, cursing himself,

"Don't go! Maybe I can teach you the basic skills. But no one must se us. I don't think that Leafstar would be very pleased if I teach a foreign cat how to hunt our prey."

Nameless turned around, her tail waving happily.

"You'd really do that? Thank you, Bouncepaw! You have no idea what that means for me!"

Bouncepaw nodded slowly, surprised by the kittypet's enthusiastic.

"Okay", he meowed, thinking quickly, "Meet me tomorrow at the old barn at sunrise.

The Clan never hunts there, so they shouldn't detect us."

With that, he turned away, angry with himself.

What was he doing?

_Why _was he doing this?


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to Splashstorm for the review! **

**I know that my typing isn't that good yet, but I'm still practicing, and the -side is very different to the German one. For the timeline, my story is set after Firestar's Quest, and I made it up before SkyClan's destiny was released, so I'm ignoring it.**

**...**

**Chapter4**

When he came back to camp, carrying a thrush and a vole, the sun had already started to set, and most of the Clan ate or rested near the fresh-kill pile.

Rockpaw was sharing tongues with Tinypaw, and Mintpaw was playing with Spark-kit.

Sagepaw was nowhere to see, probably out on a late training session with his mentor, Sharpclaw.

Bouncepaw took a magpie for himself and settled down near Patchfoot, who was quietly talking to Clovertail.

Just as he bent his head to devour the prey, Sagepaw raced in the clearing, his side bleeding heavily.

"Intruders!", he yowled, stumbling toward the assembled cats, "There are two rouges at the training hollow!"

Patchfoot, as the oldest present warrior, sprang quickly to his paws.

"Bouncepaw, Rockpaw, you come with me!

The rest of you, guard the camp and make sure there aren't more of them!", he ordered, already racing upward the gorge.

Bouncpaw froze. A battle!

It would be the first time for him to try his fighting skills on real enemies.

With his heart pounding he ran after his mentor, Rockpaw right on his heels.

As soon as they neared the training hollow, he heard battle screeches and the stench of blood flodded his nostrils.

He spotted two muscular cats, a grey tabby tom and a brown-and-black she-cat, racing their claws across Sharpclaws sides.

Bouncepaw was filled with terror as he watched his deputy going down.

He was a brilliant fighter, and he had much experience, but the two rouges were too much for him.

Patchfoot let out a furious battle cry, leaping himself on top of the grey tom, biting hard into his neck.

Rockpaw and Bouncepaw joined him, attacking the she-cat with their claws, trying to get her off Sharpclaw.

The rouge turned around, raking her claws across Rockpaws muzzle and making him screech in pain.

Furiously, Bouncepaw leapt forward, avoiding the she-cats outstretched paws and biting hard down her hind leg.

She yowled, and tried to shake him off, but Bouncepaw wouldn't let go, and bit down even harder.

When Rockpaw joined the fight again, clawing her ear, she finally broke free and fled across the gorge.

The tom, seeing himself outnumbered, quickly followed her, his neck heavily bleeding.

"Yeah, run you fox hearted cowards!", Rockpaw yelled, slashing his tail triumphantly, "And don't dare you come back!"

Patchfoot padded over to them and rested his tail Bouncepaw's shoulder.

"You fought well, both of you. But now you should help me bringing Sharpclaw back to camp. His leg looks pretty bad."

Turning his head, Bouncepaw saw his mentor was right.

Blood welled from Sharpclaw's hind leg, and he had a deep scratch on his shoulder.

As he tried to stand up, the ginger warrior fell back with a groan, and lay motionless.

"Rockpaw, get Echosong!", Patchfoot ordered, crouching down beside his deputy.

"Bouncepaw, help me to carry him back, but watch for sharp stones!"

When they came near the camp, Echosong raced toward them, a bundle of herbs dangling from her jaws.

Leafstar was right behind her, her fur bristling with fear.

"What happened? Will he be okay?", she asked, her voice trembling with worry.

"Sharpclaw? Can you hear me? Oh, please, don't die!"

Echosong nudged her aside, trying to reassure her leader.

"He won't die, his wounds aren't that serious. But you should let me treat them instead of wailing like a kit!"

She crouched down beside Sharpclaw, pressing some herbs into the wounds.

"Bouncepaw, fetch some cobwebs from my den!", she ordered without looking up.

Quickly he dashed of, worried about what had just happened.

Apart from Oscar, no cat had ever attacked the Clan.

The rouges that lived near the gorge had accepted the Clan and stayed well away from their borders.

Were they going to change their mind now? Would they try to destroy the Clan?

**...**

**Well? What do you say?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter5**

When he woke up the next morning, the sun had already risen, and the apprentices' den was deserted.

As soon as he came out of the cave, Patchfoot padded towards him from where he had spoken to Echosong.

"Good thing you're awake!", his mentor greeted him, "I want you to change the bedding in the medicine den. And don't forget to bring some fresh-kill for Echosong and Sharpclaw."

With these words, he went off to give orders to Petalnose and Clovertail, who were just coming back from the dawn patrol with Mintpaw.

Nodding a greeting to the tabby grey apprentice, he wondered if Patchfoot was organizing the patrols now that Sharpclaw was wounded.

As he padded toward the cave where the Clan used to collect moss, Spark-kit dashed over to him. "Hi Bouncepaw! Are you going to fight some other rouges? Can I come with you?"

The brown and orange kit jumped excitedly around Bouncepaw's paws, making it hard for him not to trip. "No, you crazy furball!", he purred, "I'm going to collect moss for Sharpclaw's bedding!"

For a heartbeat the kit seemed disappointed, but he cheered up almost at once. "I can do that! That's what apprentices do, right? Then Leafstar will see that I'm ready to be apprenticed!"

Without waiting for an answer, he bounced away, leaving an astonished Bouncepaw. The ginger apprentice looked around, wondering wheather he should stop the kit.

"It's all right!", Leafstar called from the nursery entrance, "Let him fetch that moss. That will stop him from shredding my tail!" Bouncepaw purred in amusement, and followed Spark-kit more slowly.

…

When they came back to the medicine den, Spar-kit dashed forward and Bouncepaw could hear his exited mews from inside the den. "Hi Sharpclaw! I'm changing your bedding, like an apprentice! Can Leafstar make me an apprentice? I'm nearly six moons old!"

Sharpclaw purred with amusement. "No, you crazy fox, you're only four moons old. And you won't become an apprentice if you don't stop spreading that moss everywhere but in my nest!"

By the time Bouncepaw had changed the bedding and brought Sharpclaw a shrew, it was almost sunhigh, and he suddenly remembered the black kittypet and the promise he had made.

"Mouse dung!", he spat, wishing he had never met her.

Looking around, he saw that no one seemed to notice him; Spark-kit had fall to sleep beside Leafstar, who was dozing, too.

Leaving the tempting fresh-kill pile behind, he began to climb up the gorge.

…

When he emerged at the old barn, he was relieved to see Nameless still sitting on the fence, waving her tail impatiently.

"Sorry! Missed the time!", he panted, completely out of breath.

"It's okay!", she reassured him, "I know that it must be hard to slip out of your camp undetected. There're always guards, right? And patrols."

Bouncepaw raised his head in astonishment. "How do you know about that?"

Nameless answered proudly: "I know even more than that. I've asked around in the twolegplace, and some cats could tell me pretty much of your Clan. One of them is Hutch, he was a SkyClan warrior once."

Bouncepaw remembered the dark brown tabby tom at once. He was just a kit when Hutch, then Shortwhisker, decided to leave, but he had liked him very much. The tabby tom had liked some privacy, just like Bouncepaw.

"That's great!", he meowed, "how is he?"

"He's happy with his twolegs, but I've seen him sometimes sitting on his fence and staring toward the gorge. I think he misses the Clan a bit."

"Say hello to him from me, will you?", he said, then, remembering why they were here, "Okay, let's start with the hunting!"

He fell in the hunter's crouch, keeping low to the ground.

"Just copy me. And keep your tail low!", he ordered, then set up to watch her try.

To his surprise, she got it almost right, creeping over the smooth grass with no sound.

"That's great!", he meowed surprised, "Just remember to keep low enough. And don't step on any twigs." She tried again, doing it right that time.

"Very good!", he praised, "I think you should try on real prey now"

He sniffed the air, checking it for prey-scents.

Almost at once, he detected a mouse, nibbling under a hawthorn bush.

"Do you smell that mouse?", he asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the tiny creature.

Nameless nodded, and fell in the hunter's crouch again.

Slowly, she crept nearer, carefully avoiding twigs and fallen leafs that could give her away.

Suddenly, the mouse looked up, hastily swinging its head around.

But before it could vanish into its hole, Nameless dashed forward, killing it with a swift bite.

"Great!", Bouncepaw meowed, impressed by her catch, "One would think you were born in the Clan!"

Nameless licked her chest embarrassed, but he could see pride glowing in her eyes. "It was a very dumb mouse. Back in my garden, I never caught anything. You're a great teacher!"

"It was you who caught the mouse. I didn't move a whisker!", Bouncepaw, pointed out, still surprised by her talent. "Sit down and eat it, I have to catch something for my Clan."

Nameless shook her head. "We can share! You showed me how to catch it!"

Bouncepaw hesitated. The mouse looked tempting, and his belly yowled with hunger. But the Clan had to be fed first!

"No thanks", he replied, "The warrior code says that warriors have to feed their Clan before taking fresh-kill for themselves!"

Nameless looked stunned, but said nothing. Instead, she crouched down and began to eat while Bouncepaw padded of, carefully sniffing the air.

The Clan did not hunt here very often, because the terrible memory of the battle with the rats was still fresh.

Bouncepaw had been just a kit when they fought them, but he still remembered how scared he had felt when they had waited for the rats to attack.

By now, the place was peaceful, no more rats living in the old barn.

Soon he spotted a magpie, sitting on a low branch and washing its feathers.

Carefully he crept nearer, bracing himself to jump on her.

Suddenly he tripped on a twig, but before the bird could fly away, he launched himself after her and brought her down.

"Wow! What an enormous leap! Can all of your Clan jump that high?", Nameless asked impressed. She had finished her mouse and came over to him, her eyes huge with admiration

Bouncepaw looked up, surprised to see her. "Er… Most of us, yes. That's what SkyClan is known for. Have you eaten up?", he asked, trying to change subject.

"Yes. It was great! Much better than this stupid twoleg food!", she replied, licking her jaws.

"That's great. Do you want me to bring you back to twolegplace?", he asked, hoping not to meet a patrol while he was with her.

Nameless shook her head. "No thanks. I'll be okay on my own. Thank you for teaching me the hunter's crouch. I don't think that I'll ever be as good as you, but I'll be able to catch a mouse or two."

Bouncepaw suddenly wondered what she meant by that. Curiously he asked: "Why did you want learning that stuff in the first place? Your twolegs feed you, don't they?"

Nameless hesitated. "Er… I don't like their food very much. And life's getting boring since...", she broke off, shaking her head. "I just wanted to feel more…independent."

Bouncepaw nodded.

He couldn't imagine not living outside, free to decide were to go. Cherrytail had once told him about living with twolegs, and it had sounded very much like a prison.

"Well, then… Bye, Nameless.", he mewed, suddenly pitying her.

"Bye Bouncepaw!", she replied qietly, slowly trotting back to twolegplace.

As he watched her vanishing, Bouncepaw suddenly felt a pang of betraying, as if he had left a Clanmate in a battle.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter6**

When he returned to the camp he felt so hungry his legs were trembling.

"Hey, Bouncepaw, where have you been all the day?", Rockpaw called from where he was crouching at the fresh-kill pile. "Hunting", he murmured when he settled down next to him, a sparrow in his jaws.

As he ate, Patchfoot padded over to them. "Do you come on evening patrol, Bouncepaw?" "Shell I come right now or may I eat first?", he asked, trying to ignore his rumbling stomach. Patchfoot purred with amusement at the sound of his apprentice's belly and mewed: "Of course you can. Sparrowpelt is still eating, too."

This evening, there was no sign of any rouges, but Patchfoot reported that he had seen them farther up the gorge earlier, outside the Clan's territory. "I wonder where they came from", he murmured when they trotted back to camp, "I've never seen them before, and I wandered far around when I was a rouge." Sparrowpelt nodded. "I hope they aren't some friends of Oscar. Back in twolegplace, there were some rouges, too, but I never talked to them."

Patchfoot looked up, worry glimmered in his pale blue eyes. "How many were they?", he asked, quickening his pace, "You might be right and Oscar sent them to attack." Sparrowpelt's fur bristled, and he hissed: "This fox hearted piece of crow food!"

Bouncepaw shivered. If his mentor was right, there might be more fighting soon.

He exchanged a look with his sister, Tinypaw, who looked as worried as he felt. "Do you think that's true?", she whispered, not wanting her mentor to overhear her fear.

Bouncepaw shook his head. "I don't know, Tinypaw. But if they attack again, we'll fight them back!"

…

When they came back to camp, Patchfoot vanished in the nursery, to report their suspect to Leafstar. Bouncepaw waited in front of the entrance, not wanting to go to sleep before he hadn't heard what Leafstar had said. When Patchfoot came out again, he seemed surprised to see his apprentice still there. "Bouncepaw! Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"

Bouncepaw flinched; he knew that Patchpelt and Leafstar's meeting was none of his business.

"I… I just wondered what Leafstar said about the rouges in twolegplace." Patchfoot shook his head. "She thinks that we should talk to Hutch at first, because he might know more about them." Bouncepaw nodded, and relief flooded him at the thought of not having to fight too soon. His scratches still hurt, and with the weather still cold, SkyClan couldn't effort to have more cats wounded.

The next days passed peacefully, and there was no sign of any intruders.

Cherrytail visited Hutch, but he didn't known anything about Oscar meeting rouges.

From time to time Bouncepaw remembered Nameless, and he wondered how she was doing.

She had seemed strange to him, as if there was something she was hiding.

Sometimes he even thought about visiting her, but he knew that he couldn't do that.

Rockpaw's, Tinypaw's and his apprenticeship was nearing its end, and it could be barely a moon until their warrior ceremony. But still, he couldn't forget the feeling of betrayal when he had left her at the barn.

…

"Hey Bouncepaw, what's wrong?", a voice broke his thoughts. Blinking, he spotted Mintpaw, standing right in front of him. "Huh?", he stammered, taken by surprise.

"I asked if you wanted to go hunting!", she meowed impatiently, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, sometimes I think you're deaf. What's wrong with you?" "Er… Nothing! Let's go hunting!", he answered quickly, springing to his feet.

"Mind if I join you?", someone asked, and Bouncepaw recognized Sagepaw. "Of course not!, Mintpaw replied cheerfully, but somehow Bouncepaw felt that she wasn't happy about her brother accompanying them.

They set off, but before they had gone far, Patchfoot emerged with Sparrowpelt and Tinypaw. "Bouncepaw, are you ready for a training session?", the black-and-white tom asked, already heading towards the training hollow.

"Sure!", Bouncepaw replied, adding a short "Sorry, maybe we can hunt later!" to Mintpaw and Sagepaw. But before Mintpaw could reply, Rockpaw padded over to them and offered:

"I can go with you. You're still young, and you shouldn't wander off alone.

I could show you some tricks!" Mintpaw agreed, and while Bouncepaw watched the three of them vanishing, a pang of envy shot through him.

…

When he returned, he spotted Mintpaw and Rockpaw sharing toungues in front of the apprentice den, and again he felt this strange pang of jealousy, and turned his back to them.

As he crouched down alone to eat a sparrow, he overheard Patchfoot and Sparrowpelt talking.

"Bouncepaw did very well today", Sparrowpelt meowed, not noticing the ginger apprentice,

"That leap was enormous." "Yes, even for SkyClan he's a great jumper. Clovertail choose a good name.", Patchfoot answered, purring, and Bouncepaw felt his fur tingle with excitement.

He knew he could jump very high, but hearing his mentor praising his skills was much more satisfying.

"Tiny paw's getting an excellent fighter, too. She knows exactly were to put her paws, even without me to instruct her", Sparrowpelt continued, "They'll be made warriors soon, I suppose." Patchfoot nodded. "We could certainly do with some more warriors, with all these rouges around and Oscar being so hostile."

They continued talking, but Bouncepaw didn't heard them, because Tinypaw suddenly appeared, her eyes shining. "Did you hear Sparrowpelt praising me? I never thought he thinks I'm that good. He's such a great warrior!"

Bouncepaw raised an eyebrow.

His sister definitely showed more admiration for her mentor than an apprentice usually did.

"Yeah", he meowed slowly , smiling to himself, "But I'm sure we will be, too."

…

The next day, Cherrytail took Bouncepaw and Rockpaw on a hunting patrol towards the barn. "I think you should try hunting on your own now. There is not much prey around here, and we'll be more successful if we split up." She left towards twolegplace, probably hoping to catch some plump mice that had survived the cold in the big nests. Rockpaw seemed very content with hunting alone, and headed towards the old barn without another word.

Left alone, Bouncepaw decided to try catching a squirrel or a bird in the small wood, but somehow he couldn't concentrate properly. After missing a sparrow and a blackbird, he suddenly realized what was strange. He could detect Nameless' scent between the bracken, leading towards the clearing where he had first met her.

What was _she_ doing here? With an angry hiss, he darted forward, his neck fur bristling.

When he emerged from the bracken, the black kittypet shrank back, but as soon as she recognized him, she relaxed.

"Hi Bouncepaw! I'm a wild cat now!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry forn not updating for so long, I had the chapters written but I could not bring up the energy to uplode them. The updates will be quicker now, I promise! (even more quicker if I get some reviews!)**

**...  
**

**Chapter 7**

"You're _what_?", Bouncepaw asked, completely taken aback.

"A wild cat!", Nameless repeated happily, flexing her claws.

"I ran off from my twolegs, and I certainly won't go back. I'm living in the wild now!"

"But… You can't live _here_. This is Clan territory. Please go home, it isn't safe here at the moment. There were two rouges some days ago, and they nearly killed Sharpclaw.

Leafstar thinks there might be more, and they could easily attack you."

Nameless seemed slightly frightened, but she didn't gave in.

"I _won't_ go back, whatever you say. I can take care of myself, don't worry.

Thanks for teaching me how to hunt, but I don't need your help anymore."

"You-", Bouncepaw began, but a sneering voice interrupted him.

"So, my little brother teaches kittypets how to hunt the _Clans_ prey? I thought Shortwhisker was the only traitor!"

Bouncepaw turned around, and saw Rockpaw slowly padding towards them, his neck fur bristling. But before he could do anything, another cat emerged.

"Stand back, Rockpaw. And don't call Hutch a traitor, he made his own decision." Cherrytail padded over to them, her eyes burning with anger. "But I still would like to know what this kittypet is doing in our territory, Bouncepaw. You seem to know her pretty good, so I assume that you have been meeting her earlier?"

She turned to the ginger apprentice, still blazing with anger. "I- I told her to leave… I really didn't want to-" But before he could explain anything, Cherrytail interrupted him with a flicker of her tail. "Come with me. You can explain all that to Leafstar. You come with us, too!", she added to Nameless, who obviously wanted to protest, but thought better of it at the sight of the furious warrior I front of her, and followed the small patrol with a short nod.

…

"So what did you think you were doing?", Leafstar demanded, padding up and down in her den, her fur ruffled with anger. "Did you even _think_ of the warrior code? You're neither allowed to tell kittypets Clan secrets nor inviting them to hunt on our territory. Newleaf is still cold, and you know as well as I do that there is no prey to waste."

She stopped walking, and glared down at him, her amber eyes burning with rage. But before Bouncepaw could say anything to his defense, Nameless padded forward, and meowed: "It was my fault. I asked him to show me how to hunt, and I stepped onto your territory without Bouncepaw knowing. I wanted to be a wild cat, and I didn't know I wasn't allowed to live here. But now I do, and I understand why you can't afford to let kittypets eat your prey. But I ask you to allow me into your Clan."

A long, shocked silence followed her words, and neither Sharpclaw nor Echosong said anything, until Leafstar dipped her head in acknowledgement, and said: "I see that you meant no harm kittypet. But being a warrior isn't just about catching mice, it is much harder than what you are used to. Not every cat is made for that sort of life." "I know this, but I thought about this a long time, and I am sure this is what I want.", Nameless answered, holding her head high and meeting the older she-cat's eyes with a firm gaze.

Leafstar nodded, and meowed: "Very well. We will discuss what to do about you two. You can go now. Bouncepaw, make sure she doesn't get hurt at the cliff." Bouncepaw nodded, and padded away, happy to escape his leader without getting his tail shredded, but still worried about his future. He knew the trouble wasn't over yet.

...

Outside, he saw the other apprentices, all watching him from the fresh-kill pile. Rockpaw had obviously told him what had happened, for they all looked at him with skeptical looks. "So you're a traitor now?", Mintpaw asked, breaking the eerie silence in a cool tone. Bouncepaw looked at her shocked, and started: "No, of course not, I just-", but the laughter of the grey tabby interrupted him, and relieve flooded him as he saw the amusement in his eyes. "Oh come on, you stupid furball. I know you didn't meant any harm. The whole clan does. Do you really think anyone seriously mistrusts you?"

Bouncepaw tried to smile, but when he looked around, he saw that more than one of his Clanmates stared at him with a questioning look, and he knew that Mintpaw was not completely right.


End file.
